{"id":842,"date":"2025-02-03T15:53:04","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T16:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ibslhk.com\/?p=842"},"modified":"2025-03-06T13:04:10","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T13:04:10","slug":"cree-schools-in-canada-join-forces-with-schools-in-brazil-to-protect-shorebirds-who-call-both-places-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ibslhk.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/cree-schools-in-canada-join-forces-with-schools-in-brazil-to-protect-shorebirds-who-call-both-places-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Cree Schools in Canada Join Forces With Schools in Brazil to Protect Shorebirds Who Call Both Places Home"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unceded Algonquin Territory \u2014 Ottawa, ON | February 3, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last fall, Nature Canada\u2019s naturalist team visited the Cree Nation of Chisasibi, a community where they\u2019ve been partnering with locals to monitor birds for several years. But this time they came to town for a different reason.<\/p>\n

Nature Canada has just launched a new project to connect schools around James Bay with schools in Lagoa do Peixe in Brazil (a WHSRN Site of International Importance<\/a>).<\/p>\n

But what do Chisasibi and southern Brazil have in common? The answer is migratory birds who travel thousands of kilometers back and forth every year to reproduce in the Arctic summer and escape winter along the South-American coasts\u2013and the passion to protect them. These summer-chasing travellers have experienced major population declines<\/a> recently, worrying researchers, conservation groups, and communities located along their migratory paths.<\/p>\n

To help raise awareness and support local action for shorebird recovery efforts, Nature Canada has partnered with bird conservation groups across the Americas to connect communities along the birds\u2019 migratory routes, or \u201cflyways\u201d. Some of the biggest allies to realize this work are schools, teachers and their students.<\/p>\n

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\n\u201cAs a Brazilian biologist living in Canada since 2020, it’s meaningful to me to be part of a project connecting the two countries that both the migratory shorebirds and I call home. Isolated efforts in either place can only do so much, there needs to be coordinated community-based action, and this is exactly what this project is meant to support.\u201d – <\/em>Priscilla Santos, Campaigns Officer at Nature Canada<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Early in December last year, the Nature Canada team travelled to the Cree community of Chisasibi on James Bay in Eeyou Istchee for the first in-person workshop with teachers and community members, introducing them to the shorebird curriculum – and the partnership with Brazil. The curriculum is designed to reflect place-based, locally relevant content that bridges scientific and traditional knowledges, with the support of community members.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing how a little shorebird like the Hudsonian Godwit can help bridge gaps between different cultures and languages\u201d said Jimmy Fireman from the Chisasibi Council of Elders, who attended the workshop. \u201cThese communities are halfway around the world from each other, from the high north like the James Bay region in Quebec, Canada to the coastal communities in the country of Brazil\u201d, Jimmy concluded.<\/p>\n

Frederick Gilbert, science teacher at the Grand River High School, agrees with Jimmy. \u201cI am very enthusiastic to participate in a project where a passion for ecology creates bridges between students living in different countries. Discovering shorebirds is a cross-curricular project where ethnoecology is pivotal. It will be very interesting to see how different cultures will transpose this project in their schools\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

Outreach to more schools across James Bay is underway and is expected to carry on through 2025. The Nature Canada team will be present at the Great Moon Gathering in Timmins on February 12-13, conducting a curriculum training workshop for interested teachers.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Americas, schools, teachers, and students in the community of Tavares located in the Lagoa do Peixe region in southern Brazil can\u2019t wait to share more about how they\u2019re learning to protect shorebirds with their classmates far to the north.<\/p>\n

Franciane Terra, teacher and Director of the Tavares School Board, says that \u201cTo be part of a project like this is fantastic! It allows us to get to know new cultures while also contributing to strengthening efforts underway for migratory shorebirds, inspiring people at a global scale\u201d.<\/p>\n

SAVEBrasil, the bird conservation partner organization leading the work in Brazil, has been present in the community and supporting teachers and schools on the shorebird curriculum since 2019. \u201cWorking together to connect people for shorebird conservation is our main goal. It is rewarding and a great learning opportunity to help bridge Lagoa do Peixe and James Bay communities by fostering cultural and knowledge exchanges\u201d concluded Raquel Carvalho, Project Coordinator for Shorebirds at SAVEBrasil.<\/p>\n

This two-year (2024-2026) project is funded by the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act Grant Program under the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, in partnership with Nature Canada, SAVEBrasil, Cree Nation Government, Moose Cree First Nation, Manomet Conservation Sciences, Western Hemisphere Reserve Network (WHSRN), Birds Canada, and the Canadian Wildlife Service. Nature Canada\u2019s work to Save Bird Lives is also supported by the National Audubon Society and BirdLife International.<\/p>\n

Nature Canada is Canada\u2019s voice for nature. For 85 years, Nature Canada has helped protect nearly 144 million acres of parks and wildlife areas in Canada and countless species. Today, Nature Canada represents a network of over 250,000 members and supporters and more than 1,200 nature organizations.<\/em><\/p>\n

– 30 –<\/p>\n

For more information, contact:
\nScott Mullenix
\nmedia@naturecanada.ca
\n613-366-4776<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The post Cree Schools in Canada Join Forces With Schools in Brazil to Protect Shorebirds Who Call Both Places Home<\/a> appeared first on Nature Canada<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unceded Algonquin Territory \u2014 Ottawa, ON | February 3, 2025 Last fall, Nature Canada\u2019s naturalist team visited the Cree Nation of Chisasibi, a community where they\u2019ve been partnering with locals to monitor birds for several years. But this time they came to town for a different reason. Nature Canada has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ibslhk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ibslhk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ibslhk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ibslhk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ibslhk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=842"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/ibslhk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":843,"href":"http:\/\/ibslhk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842\/revisions\/843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ibslhk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ibslhk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ibslhk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}